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Who Really Was Ingvar Kamprad, The Founder Of IKEA

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The founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, was surrounded by myths. He was famous for his frugality and hardworking. It all started with selling matches at the age of 7. He realized that he could gain profit buying matches in bulk cheaply. And selling them at low prices individually. By the age of ten, he was selling flower seeds, greeting cards, Christmas decorations, and pencils.

He founded IKEA in 1943 when he was 17. The name of the company was based on his initials - Ingvar Kamprad. And on the first letters of the farm (Elmtaryd) and the village (Agunnaryd) where he grew up. First, he was selling pens, picture frames, watches, and some jewellery. His first orders he got by phone and mail. He started to sell furniture of local manufactures in 1948. The idea was to sell cheap but high-quality furniture. The first IKEA catalog was published 3 years later. After that, Kamprad opened his first showroom. But the company had to sell their own furniture to win over the opponents. At that time, the idea of selling kit furniture came up. One of the IKEA workers removed the legs of the table so it could fit into a car. After that, all the furniture were sold in flat packs and had to be assembled by the customers. The cost of furniture was reduced. But people also loved to assemble the furniture. It was called «The IKEA effect». People appreciated things which were made by themselves more.

The weird names of the furniture were connected to Kamprad’s dyslexia. He had problems with remembering inventory numbers of the items. So he invented the system of naming the products. For example, he used Scandinavian men’s names for bookcases. And bed textiles were named after flowers and plants.

For the next decades, the empire of IKEA grew up. But Kamprad continued to live in modesty. He preferred to buy clothes at flea markets. And his haircuts were mostly made in developing countries. He always flew economy and stayed at budget hotels while traveling. It became a part of the company’s culture. Workers, for example, had to write on both sides of the paper.

But journalists later found his luxurious villa and Porsche. It seems that stories about Kamprad’s modesty were mostly a myth. The other controversial side of IKEA is Kamprad’s connections with fascists. He was a member of the New Swedish Movement, which was created by his friend fascist-supporter. Kamprad claimed that it was his greatest mistake and youthful «stupidity».

All in all, nowadays IKEA earns more than 34 billion euro per year. It is the most famous furniture store in the world.

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